United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) elected ten members to its Board of Trustees during its 2014 Annual Conference in Nashville, Tennessee including three members new to the organization. Seth Harris, former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Labor, Pablo Chavez, LinkedIn’s Vice President of Public Policy and a parent of a son with a disability, and Ouida Spencer, a long-time UCP advocate and volunteer from Georgia will join seven re-elected members to lead UCP into the future.

“Our Board of Trustees plays a critical role in guiding the UCP network forward, and we are honored to welcome such a talented and knowledgeable group onto the Board this year. We are very grateful for each new member’s dedication to our mission of enabling a life without limits for people with disabilities and their families, and look forward to their contributions,” said Stephen Bennett, President and CEO of United Cerebral Palsy, in announcing the selection of Trustees.

Profiles of the newest board members are below. To view the complete list including re-elected trustees, please visit ucp.org/about/board.

Seth Harris served four and a half years as the US Deputy Secretary of Labor and six months as Acting US Secretary of Labor and a member of President Barack Obama’s Cabinet before becoming a Distinguished Scholar at Cornell and joining Dentons’ Public Policy and Regulation practice. He did some consultancy work for UCP in 2007 and 2008, most notably as the designer of the programmatic work that launched UCP’s Life Labs.

While at the Department of Labor, Harris contributed to our country’s economic recovery and millions of Americans returning to work. In 2007, Harris chaired Obama for America’s Labor, Employment and Workplace Policy Committee, and later founded the campaign’s Disability Policy Committee. He oversaw the Obama-Biden transition team’s efforts in the Labor, Education and Transportation departments and 12 other agencies in 2008.

Also, Harris was a professor of law at New York Law School and director of its Labor and Employment Law programs as well as a scholar of the economics of disability law and topics.

Pablo Chavez is Vice President of Global Public Policy for LinkedIn and the parent of a young son with cerebral palsy. From 2006 to early 2014, Chavez was a member of Google’s public policy and government affairs team, where he held several leadership roles developing and executing advocacy initiatives promoting access to the Internet and other technologies.

Before then, Pablo worked in the US Senate as a counsel to Senator John McCain and to the Senate Commerce Committee. Pablo serves on the Board of Trustees for St. Coletta of Greater Washington, which is dedicated to assisting children and adults with special needs, and serves as a board member and in advisory capacities for a number of technology-related organizations. A graduate of Stanford Law School and Princeton University, Pablo lives in Washington, DC with his wife and two children.

Ouida Spencer has been a licensed Real Estate Broker and consultant in Georgia and South Carolina for over 17 years. Previously she worked in banking as Senior Vice President with SunTrust Bank and Group Vice President with Decatur Federal.

She specializes in locating homes that can be modified for individuals with special needs and has worked to acquire properties for over 500 people who required special accessibility modifications. Spencer is a tireless advocate for housing rights of individuals with disabilities.

Spencer was nominated to UCP’s Board of Trustees after years of dedication to UCP affiliates in her area and her other volunteer efforts. Spencer is a Member of the DeKalb Association of Realtors, Chairman of the Board of Directors of UCP of Georgia, Member of the UCP Master Board of Directors South Florida/Georgia/South Carolina, Vice Chairman and Member of the Board of Directors UCP of South Carolina and a member of the UCP Affiliate Services Committee. Other volunteer activities include serving on the Board of Trustees of the Rosebud McCormick Foundation for over 26 years.

Spencer is the Past State President of the Georgia Federation of Business and Professional Women Club’s, Inc. She is currently serving as Treasurer of the Decatur BPW and was recently elected to the Family Extended Care, Inc. board.

A graduate of Georgia State University where she received both her BBA and MBA degrees, Spencer lives in the Atlanta metropolitan area.